Small garbage bins make excellent nest
boxes. They are cheap, can be set up without the use of carpentry
equipment, portable and easy to
clean. By far the simplest way of providing nest boxes for
your hens.

Portable. As they are not attached to anything they can be
moved with ease.

Easy to clean. Simply take outside, empty the straw and hose
down with a pressure hose.

Offer less cover for spider mites than wooden nest boxes as
there are virtually no cracks for the mites to hide in.

Disadvantages

As they are usually placed on the ground it is easier for rats
to access the nest box. Though it would be relatively easy to
set these bin nest boxes up on a bench.

Being a watertight container there is a possibility the rear end
of the nest box will fill with water if exposed to the elements.

Plastic 60 litre rubbish bin nest
box with bricks in position.

Rubbish bin nest box interior
with straw in place.

HOW TO SET UP A GARBAGE BIN NEST
BOX

Lay the bin on its side on the ground where you want
the nest box to be.

Place a brick either side of the box. They are
there to stop the bin from rolling sideways.

Put a brick at the front of the bin.
This is to stop the straw from falling
out and to create a sense of seclusion for the nesting hen.

Loosely pack straw into the bin to the height of
the brick. Slightly flatten the straw in the centre to
create the nesting hollow. To encourage the hens to
lay there I place a fake egg in the centre of this hollow.

About once every couple of months I take the bin out of the
coop, dump the contents and give it a good hose down with a
pressure hose. This is to deter spider mites and remove any smelly
residue from broken eggs. The old straw will also be pretty dirty and
stale.

HOW TO make a nest entrance
using the garbage bin lid

In place of a brick at the front of the nest box you can cut a hole in
the lid of the bin. To do this :-

Rubbish bin lid with section to be
cut out marked with a marker pen.

Rubbish bin lid with entrance section cut out. I used a
grinder to cut the lid but a sharp knife should do the job.

Completed nest box entrance with 13 millimetre polypipe on the
lip to cover the sharp edges.

Close up of the 13 millimetre polypipe on the lip of the
entrance.

Milk crate nest boxes, image
courtesy of the internet.

With a marker pen draw a line on the lid in a half moon
shape. At the top and either sides of the lid the line
should be fairly close to the edge but at the bottom there
should be about 1/4 to 1/3 of the lid left intact.

With a sharp knife cut out the top of the bin following
the line. For the bin shown in the photos on the right
I used a small grinder with a thin grinding wheel as it was
much quicker.

Take a section of 13 millimetre polypipe and make a
straight cut with scissors along the entire length of the
pipe.

Push the polypipe onto the edge of the hole in the lid
that you cut. This is to provide a smooth edge to
avoid any cuts to the heads and feet of your hens.

As rubbish bin nest boxes are are the only ones I have ever used I
cannot directly compare them to other types of nest boxes but as the
work so well I have never felt the need to try any alternatives.

other types of nest box
containers

I started using rubbish bins as nest boxes because that was what
I had available at the time, however there is no reason why other
types of containers can't be used, for example drums or milk crates. It's just up to
your imagination and ingenuity.